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Canberra bracing for truckie convoy

Paul Osborne, AAP Senior Political Writer

Canberra is set to be brought to its knees on Monday when truck and van convoys from every mainland state and territory to protest against the legitimacy of the Gillard government.

The "Convoy of No Confidence" comes at the start of a four-day sitting of federal parliament and as Prime Minister Julia Gillard, whose stocks are sagging in opinion polls, faces community anger over her broken promise on the carbon tax and changes to the diesel fuel rebate.

One of the convoy organisers, truck driver and former Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) state candidate Mick Pattel, said the convoy was a wake-up call for the government.

"Every decision that they make seems to be an absolute blunder," Mr Pattel told ABC Radio on Sunday.

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"I think the government has been compromised by the fact that it's not governing in its own right."

A petition is to be presented calling for a double-dissolution election, although expert Antony Green says such an election is not possible without a legislative trigger.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who on Sunday joined the convoy at the NSW town of Marulan, 150 kilometres north of Canberra, said the protesters comprised "salt-of-the-earth Australians who feel they are being ripped off by a bad government".

Mr Abbott said the prime minister on Monday should meet representatives of the convoy, some of whom had travelled from Perth, Cairns and Darwin.

"You have to have a reasonable dialogue with the Australian people and this is part of the prime minister's problem," Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio on Sunday from one of the trucks.

"She seems to think if you don't agree with her you are some kind of extremist."

A spokesman for the prime minister said she had no plans to address the protesters.

An alternative protest will also be held, involving environmental campaigners on bicycles.

The organiser of the Don't Be Taken For A Ride rally, Geoff Lazarus, said the truck protest was a continuation of "Tony Abbott's campaign of confusion and scaremongering".

"The Convoy of No Confidence is a classic US-style Tea Party attempt by powerful economic interests to ultimately get ordinary Australians to vote in the next federal election for a political agenda not in their interests," Mr Lazarus said.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said he had no problem with the protest.

"It's a free country, they're free to express their opinions in any way they like as long as they do it lawfully and that's one of the great things about Australia," Mr Swan told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday.

Mr Swan said he did not accept the proposition that the trucking industry had lost confidence in Labor.

The National Road Freighters Association has organised the rally, but the major body representing truckies - the Australian Trucking Association - has distanced itself from the protest.

Greens leader Bob Brown, who is being targeted by some of the protesters who believe his party has hijacked the minority government, described them as "Abbott's angry people".

"It seems like the prime qualification to be there is to be angry about something - these are Abbott's angry people," Senator Brown said in a statement.

"But it seems their views on some issues are fairly short-sighted, very 'me-now'."